The present invention relates to communications networks, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for extracting presence, location and availability information relating to a communication device deployed in a communication network.
Service providers have a great interest in promoting presence, location and availability (xe2x80x9cPLAxe2x80x9d) services on their networks. Generally speaking, these PLA services use information about a subscriber""s PLA to provide value added services to subscribers. For example, PLA information can be provided to third party applications providing customized traffic or weather reports. As another example, a subscriber can control access to PLA information as desired. As yet another example, PLA information can allow a subscriber to control availability to subscriber""s communication devices by third parties based upon subscriber presence and location, as well as other factors such as time of day or date.
Critical to providing these PLA services is a presence, location and availability server (xe2x80x9cPLASxe2x80x9d) described in greater detail in the above referenced co-pending application. The PLAS described in such application provides application program interfaces (xe2x80x9cAPIxe2x80x9d) enabling disparate devices and disparate networks to convey PLA information and enabling third party application providers to offer their applications to various service providers using the standard APIs. The PLAS also enables the subscriber to control PLA information from many devices across different networks from a single place. The PLAS further provides access to PLA information only in accordance with the subscriber""s preferences, thereby ensuring subscriber privacy. In order to provide these many benefits, the PLAS needs some means of extracting presence and location information from a host service provider""s network, other service providers networks and perhaps other providers of presence and location information.
In addition, other future communication service applications based upon information available on a network other than PLA information are foreseeable. Accordingly, a method and apparatus for efficiently extracting this information is also desirable.
The present invention is directed to solving one or more of the problems discussed above.
A network adapter is configured to interface between a network and an application for providing information specified by the application which is carried by the network to the application. Preferably, the network adapter interfaces with the network at a single location to extract all the desired information. In such an embodiment, the network adapter may reside in a link between network elements. In one embodiment, the application seeks information about the subscriber""s presence on the network (the network may be a service provider""s network or a network of a cooperating service provider). In another embodiment, the network may be a wireless network including one or more home location registers (xe2x80x9cHLRxe2x80x9d) and a short message service center (xe2x80x9cSMS-Cxe2x80x9d). In this embodiment, the network adapter resides in a link between the HLR and the SMS-C. In a further embodiment, the network adapter includes a database of subscriber information codes used by the network to identify communication devices in use within the network. The network adapter also includes a processor programmed to query a network element, for example an HLR, to determine whether a communication device is present on the network. The processor may also be programmed to monitor network communications for an indication of the presence of a device. For example, where the network adapter resides in a link between the HLR and the SMS-C, it monitors communications between the HLR and the SMS-C that indicate whether devices are present on the network. By comparing device identification data with that stored in its database, it can determine the presence status of the device and make that information available to an application. The application may be a PLAS or a PLA based service application interfacing with the PLAS.
The network adapter of the present invention extracts desired information from a communications network and provides it to an application. Where an application is a PLAS, the information concerns the presence, location and availability of a select communication device. The network adapter interfaces with the network at a single location to extract the information, minimizing required equipment and network taps, thereby decreasing costs and limiting potential failure points. The network adapter extracts the presence and location information without disrupting or materially delaying the flow of information over the network.